Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Sadly I am once again not on the list. During the Merton Lecture, George Weigel mentioned that he was supporting Mary Ann Glendon for Cardinal but apparently that hasn't happened yet either.

Three of the new cardinals will be members of the Roman Curia:Archbishop William Levada, the American prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Pope's own successor in that role.Archbishop Franc Rodé, the Slovenian prefect of the Congregation for ReligiousArchbishop Agostino Vallini, the Italian prefect of the supreme tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura.

Nine of the new cardinals will be heads of major archdioceses, most of them traditionally considered "cardinalatial sees." They are:Archbishop Carlo Caffarra of Bologna, ItalyArchbishop Antonio Canizares Llovera of Toledo, SpainArchbishop Nicolas Cheong-Jin-Suk of Seoul, South KoreaArchbishop Stanislas Dziwisz of Krakow, Poland, the longtime personal secretary to Pope John Paul IIArchbishop Sean O'Malley of Boston, USArchbishop Jean-Pierre Ricard of Bordeaux, France, the president of the French episcopal conferenceArchbishop Gaudencio B. Rosales on Manila, the PhilippinesArchbishop Jorge Liberato Urosa Savino of Caracas, VenezuelaBishop Joseph Zen Ze-Kiun of Hong Kong, China

Finally the Pope selected three clerics who are not now acting as bishops, who will receive the red hat in recognition for their years of service to the Church. All three are over the age of 80, and thus will never participate in a papal conclave. They are:Archbishop Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo, the archpriest of the Roman basilica of St. Paul outside the Walls, a veteran Vatican diplomat and member of a noted Italian family.Archbishop Peter Poreku Dery, the retired Archbishop of Tamale, Ghana, who is 87.Father Albert Vanhoye, the French Jesuit who was rector of the Pontifical Biblical Institue and secretary to the Pontifical Biblical Commision.

There are no major surprises on the Pope's list of new cardinals. The selection of Bishop Zen, while not unexpected, is a strong statement of support for a prelate who has been outspoken in his criticism of Chinese restrictions on religious freedom. The choice of Archbishop O'Malley will raise some eyebrows in light of the turmoil that has afflicted his Boston archdiocese. On other hand the selection of Archbishops Levada, Rodé, and Dziwisz had been considered near-certainties.